Phila. schools chief announces reorganization plan

To reduce the bureaucratic maze facing parents in the Philadelphia School District, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman is adding the post of parent ombudsman to each of the district's regional offices - a first for the district.

"I am trying to make the regional and central offices more accessible," Ackerman said. "For me, it is expanding services to parents."

The parent ombudsman, she said, will "address the needs of parents as they arrive" at a regional office to ensure that the district and the parent can work together to meet the child's needs.

The change is part of Ackerman's administrative shake-up that includes increasing the number of regions in the district from eight to 11 and relocating administrators from headquarters to schools.

She said she would rather have regional office administrators focus on helping teachers, principals and schools improve students' performance.

"If we want to better support schools and better support teachers and what happens in schools, the regional superintendent should be viewed as - and act as - an instructional leader," said Ackerman, who previously led the districts in San Francisco and Washington.

Based on her conversations with parents, administrators and others, Ackerman said, she concluded that the regional offices were not sufficiently focused on improving instruction. She also found that the level of services varied from region to region.

"My goal is to organize the district so that it better supports schools and is less bureaucratic, and we can hold everybody accountable for outcomes and results," Ackerman said.

Under Ackerman's plan, the district is reopening regional offices in the Southwest and Central East sections of the city.

Ackerman has created a new region for alternative education, including disciplinary schools, and another for the district's comprehensive high schools, "where we have a lot of needs at this point," she said.

She is closing a regional office that oversees schools with outside managers. Those schools will now report to the region in which they are located.

"I don't think you can ask a regional superintendent to do a great job with 38 to 40 schools," she said. "I want them in the schools, knowing what's happening."

With the reorganization, the regional superintendents will oversee from 20 to 24 schools.

A few years ago, the district reduced the number of regions to save money, but Ackerman said that her plan will not result in higher costs for the district.

"Every move we are making is cost-neutral," she said.

The number of staffers in each regional office is being pared from 17 to seven, with some being transferred to the district's administrative headquarters at 440 N. Broad St.

She also is creating four-member "regional response teams" of academic specialists who will be sent to schools to help improve classroom instruction and provide other support.

She said no layoffs were expected as a result of the regional reorganization.

Michael Lerner, president of the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators Teamsters Local 502, said the union would monitor the changes "to ensure that the contractual rights of our members are protected."